News

Fantastic Hockey World Cup Silver

HOCKEY: The Australian Women's Hockey Team are
expected to rise to second in the world rankings after winning the silver medal
at the World Cup on Saturday, going down 2-0 to the host nation, the
Netherlands. It is the Australian women's third World Cup silver medal, adding
to those won in 1990 and 2006.

The official world
rankings will be released next week by the International Hockey Federation but
following England’s 11th place finish, Argentina’s bronze medal and Australia’s
runners-up berth they should overtake those two sides in the standings.

First half goals from
Maartje Paumen and Kim Lammers proved decisive with Emily Hurtz coming closest
for Australia when her early shot was cleared from the Dutch goal line, while
Jodie Kenny also saw a penalty corner well saved by Dutch goalkeeper Joyce
Sombroek.

Hockeyroos goalkeeper
Rachael Lynch, one of the heroines of Thursday’s semi-final shoot-out, pulled
off a string of top saves to keep Australia in the contest and was later named
Goalkeeper of the Tournament.

Speaking after the
match, Hockeyroos Head Coach Adam Commens said, “We’re very proud of our
efforts and I think that a silver medal shows how far we have come since the
Olympic Games. We came fifth in London and now, since London, we’ve played a
number of tournaments – I think five in total – and we’ve made the final of all
of them. We won the Champions Challenge, we won the World League 3, we won at
the Oceania Cup, a silver medal in the World League 4 and now a silver medal
here in the World Cup. So, it’s been a really good 18 months for us.“

We were aiming to make
the World Cup final. We knew that the world number one team would be a really
difficult one to defeat at that moment and we expected that the Netherlands
would be there. They were, they were a great opponent and a really worthy
champion.”

Shot stopper Lynch was
called upon early, tipping over Ellen Hoog’s reverse stick shot inside two
minutes before, almost immediately at the other end, Emily Hurtz’s shot
squirmed under the body of Dutch ‘keeper Somebroek only for Jacky Schoenaker to
scramble it clear from the goal line.

Dutch captain and
tournament top scorer Maartje Paumen opened the scoring from the penalty spot
in the 12th minute after Roos Drost was adjudged to have been brought down as
she ran through on goal.

Australia reacted well,
pressing upfield with Kellie White forcing a save from Soembroek, who was also
called upon to mop up on several more occasions as the Hockeyroos applied
pressure.

Lynch, however, was the
busier of the two goalkeepers, keeping out Kelly Jonker’s snap deflection
before Kim Lammers made it 2-0 in the 29th minute, netting at the second
attempt after Lynch had denied her once.

Penalty corners either
side of half time showed the Hockeyroos' determination to get back in the
contest but the first hit the body, rather than stick, of the diving Emily
Smith while Jodie Kenny saw her flick tipped wide by Sombroek at full stretch.

Lynch went on to make a
series of stops in the second half, notably a good double save at point blank
range, while her teammates contested well, winning possession and hitting the
Dutch on the counter attack.

A moment of
near-controversy occurred when a third goal was initially awarded to the
Netherlands with the umpire believing the ball had entered the goal when in
fact it had rebounded off the post. Replays showed it hit the post though and
the goal was chalked off.

Looking to the future,
Commens said he believes the Hockeyroos have what it takes to continue their
recent form and subsequent return to the top echelons of the world game.

“I’m really excited
about this group,” he said. “It’s a young group. We’ve got girls playing in our
defence the majority of the time that have played less than 50 matches, that
have come straight from our Australian Hockey League.

“We’ve got a really
young forward group and we’ve got a number of quality players that are not here
through injury…or some really highly talented young players that are probably
not ready at this moment but I think in two years’ time they’ll be pushing our
group to increase the competitiveness. When you do that you just see the level
of the team play will improve with it and it’s something that I’m really
looking forward to.”

The Australian women’s
next test comes in just over five weeks when they head to Glasgow to defend the
Commonwealth Games title won in Delhi four years ago.

Acknowledging that his
side will arrive in Scotland as favourites for the gold medal, Commens added,
“The Commonwealth Games is an important tournament for us and we will take a
very similar group there. We rightly should be favourites for that tournament
but I don’t underestimate our opponents.

“In the women’s side of
the Commonwealth Games I think there’s some really high quality teams. New
Zealand we’ve seen come fifth here; they’re ranked just below us. England are a
side that probably haven’t performed up to their potential at the World Cup and
they’ll be determined to turn it around. And South Africa are already a really
dangerous side.

“It is different
scenario coming into the tournament as favourites. I think the last
Commonwealth Games the team really ground out victories. I’d hope to be able to
go and be able to play a brand of hockey where we look to dominate our
opposition but we’ll certainly need to have taken a step up from what we’ve
done here. It’s not a matter of just trying to maintain. It’s a matter of
improving and it’s something that our group has been really determined to do
over the last two years and they’ll be even more determined to do it at the
Commonwealth Games.”

The Hockeyroos' male
counterparts, the Kookaburras, will have their shot at the World Cup gold medal
on Sunday as they go head-to-head with the Netherlands in the men's final. That
match takes place at 23:15 AEST and will be shown live across Australia on ABC
2.